It's called...ORGANISATION!

So this happened, and I’m still a little shocked by it, hence I feel the need to write about it.  It happened on the first day back at Uni, Monday morning 9am – 11am tute.  Nice and easy.  We got to the end of the class and the tutor congratulated us for surviving our first day back, and proceeded to ask what we were doing for the rest of the day.  As he asked this question he handed a booklet to me, so I’ve replied, “oh, I’m heading to work now”.  Bad move Liz, bad move.  He continued to hand out the booklets and move around the room whilst addressing me.  “So Liz, do you feel like you get the support you need from the university, to cope with your work commitments?”  This caught me totally off guard…I mean, this is my fifth year at Uni, I’ve pretty much got ‘organised’ down!  So I told him that I did not feel like I need the extra support because I have learned to organise myself over the years.  “That’s not what I asked you Liz, I want to know if you feel like you receive the right support at university”…by this point the entire class was listening intently to the conversation and I was starting to feel oh so awkward!  So I replied with a very similar response about being organised.  This went back and forth a few more times, me becoming even more confused by his constant questions…he really just wanted an excuse to let us know he was s tutor who was there to support us, “a tutor who genuinely cares.” Yeah…ok.  I wasn’t going to let him have that satisfaction (he’s a bit of an odd guy)…I think he half expected me to blurt out that it was all too much and that I would need multiple extensions and counseling sessions to make it through the semester.  Eventually he dropped it laughing; “ok, I’ll lay off Liz for awhile.” 

This encounter got me really thinking.  I know I’m busy.  But we are all busy.  I am no busier than anyone else who works a thirty plus hour week while studying full time.  What about the single mother who studies and works full time, only to come home to her kids?  The young girl who works two jobs to pay the rent while studying full time and saving for her wedding, oh and chuck on an hour plus commute!  I am busy in that I couldn’t live without my diary, I can cope with balancing thirty hours of work and full time Uni AND fit in daily training sessions, weekly cook ups, socialising etc etc, because I know how to organise myself. 

So organisation.  Essentially, you have to sit down with your diary and write down EVERYTHING.  Start with those things that are locked in, work shifts and Uni classes.  Next comes the social events, every coffee, every dinner, every party…Yep, no skipping ANYTHING!  I even write in when I am going to train.  If it is in the diary, it becomes a meeting with myself and bosses don’t cancel!!  I also find that colour coding works wonders…yeah I know, it’s a little extreme.  

My coming week...Which I will continue to scribble on until it looks like...

This!

Take my Monday for example…yes this is my “gross” day for the week, but it demonstrates how I fit everything into my week. 

5:30am: Alarm goes off.  I just get up, chuck my clothes on and get out the door before I can talk myself out of it.

6:00am: Gym.  Monday I generally start with half an hour of various cardio exercises to wake me up, and then move into weight training.

7:30am: Home.  Shower.  Breakfast.  Make-up.  Get dressed.  Get out the door.  Drive to Uni.

9:00am: Uni.

11:00am: Finish Uni.  Drive to work.  Change into uniform.  Eat.

12:00pm: Start work.  Work.  Work.  Work.  Work…oh and did I mention work?  Maybe do some Uni work on my dinner break, maybe not.  Eat.  Work, work and work some more.

9:00pm: Finish work.  Drive home.  Carry everything inside…laptop, books, lunch boxes, bags of clothes etc.  Unpack everything.

9:30/10pm: Me time…relax in anyway I like for an hour or so before bed.

Ok, so I’m not trying to gloat here and this crazy day does only roll around once a week, and I do generally take Monday as my training rest day if I’m not going to get to bed early enough Sunday night.  Regardless it represents days when I know I need to push myself, a day that when it’s over I can give myself a well deserved pat on the back because I made my plan and I stuck to it.  So, why do I push myself so hard?  Because I want to achieve big things fast, I pretty ambitious!  I want to be fit and healthy.  I want to finish Uni and become a teacher.  I want to be self-sufficient and earn my own income, pay my own bills and still have enough money and time to travel, because that is what I do for myself.  I like being busy and find that working hard is so rewarding because nobody else can do it for you. I tend to bite off more than I can chew…but you know what?  I am prepared to chew damn hard!  Believe you can and you will!  You can have what you want, you just have to be organised and work for it!

Liz Xox